Thatcham Research continues its sponsorship of the What Car? Safety Award

In support of its mission of “safer cars, fewer crashes”, Thatcham Research, the independent automotive research centre, is once again sponsoring the WhatCar? Safety Award in 2017. The long list of potential winners will be available on 6 December 2016, with the winner being announced on 11 January 2017.

Primary criteria for the award includes achieving a Euro NCAP 5-star rating and having AEB (Autonomous Emergency Braking) fitted as standard.

AEB is probably the most significant development in vehicle safety since the seat belt and could save 1,100 lives and 122,860 casualties in the UK over the next ten years. AEB is a safety technology which monitors the traffic conditions ahead, automatically braking the car in an emergency situation should the driver fail to respond. Rather than protecting the occupant in the event of a crash, like seatbelts or airbags, AEB aims to prevent the crash from happening in the first place.

AEB can prevent up to 38% of rear-end crashes, and some AEB systems are now capable of detecting pedestrians and cyclists. Third party injury claims on the Golf VII with AEB were 45% lower than its equivalent model without AEB, in Thatcham Research analysis of UK insurance data.

Thatcham Research Chief Executive, Peter Shaw, said; “Our continued sponsorship of the WhatCar? Safety Award helps to raise awareness of the important issues surrounding vehicle safety, and reinforces our challenge that vehicle manufactures should fit safety as standard on all models.”

Last year, the Volvo XC90 was revealed as the safest car on sale in Britain and the winner of the 2016 What Car? Safety Award.The Honda Jazz and Toyota Avensis were commended as runners up.